Benedictine Sister Herman (Stella) Tschida, 95, died Oct. 22 at St. Scholastica Convent, St. Cloud. The Eucharist of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 31, at the Sacred Heart Chapel, St. Benedict’s Monastery, St. Joseph, with burial in the monastery cemetery. Friends may call at St. Scholastica Convent on Sunday, Oct. 30, for a prayer service at 3 p.m. followed by visitation until 4:15 p.m., or for a vigil prayer service at 7:30 p.m. at St. Benedict’s Monastery. Visitation continues at 9 a.m. until the time of the funeral on Monday, Oct. 31.
Sister Herman was born Nov. 15, 1926, to Herman and Mary (Zinniel) Tschida in Freeport, the fourth of their six children. She attended public school district #94 in Freeport and received her GED from St. Cloud Technical High School, St. Cloud. She participated in workshops at the College of St. Benedict, St. Joseph, completed a correspondence program through the University of Florida, and was certified as a food service supervisor.
Following experience assisting in the kitchens at St. Benedict’s Monastery and at St. Benedict’s Hospital, Ogden, Utah, she heard a call to religious life and entered St. Benedict’s Monastery on Oct. 29, 1950. She was received into the novitiate June 20, 1951, as Sister Herman, made first monastic profession July 11, 1952, and perpetual monastic profession on July 11, 1955. In 2002, Sister Herman celebrated her golden jubilee and in 2012, her 60th anniversary of profession.
Sister Herman’s cooking and homemaking skills were utilized in her assignments at St. Benedict’s Monastery; St. Joseph’s Home and St. Raphael’s Home in St. Cloud; in Anaconda, Montana; St. Martin, Sauk Centre, Pierz and at Zardetti Convent and St. Cloud Hospital Convent in St. Cloud.
In 2017, she moved to St. Scholastica Convent where she continued to serve as an artisan for Whitby and St. Scholastica Convent’s gift shops and undertook a ministry of prayer and community living.
Sister Herman is survived by her Benedictine community, her brothers, Oswald (Irene), Victor (+Beatrice), and Ralph (Judy), and by her sister-in-law Annie, nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, her brother, Herbert, and her sister, Priscilla (Jerome) Roering.
Please direct memorial gifts to the Sisters of the Order of St. Benedict Outreach Ministries.